ArticleThe British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners2019
Effect of weather on GP home visits: a cross-sectional study.
Article in The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
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Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Effect of weather on GP home visits.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2019Article
- Author response.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
- Commented on by
- Commented on byAuthor response.2019
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundGPs in the UK conduct >13 million home visits each year. The visits, which are resource intensive, are usually to the frailest patients who are least resilient to adverse weather.
aimTo explore the relationship between meteorological variables (temperature, rainfall, sunshine) and temporal variables (day of the week, season) with GP home visits (HVs). DESIGN AND
settingA cross-sectional study using data provided by Herts Urgent Care for its GP acute in-hours visiting service and UK Meteorological (Met) Office weather data for the Herts & South East region of the UK.
methodThe association between the number of GP HVs and weather and temporal variables was explored using univariable and multivariable negative binomial regression.
resultsThere was a significant 0.4% decrease in HVs per degrees Celsius increase in minimum temperature (incidence rate ratio [IRR] 0.996, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.993 to 0.999), and a 0.4% decrease per hour increase in sunshine (IRR 0.996, 95% CI = 0.992 to 1.000), as well as significant decreases in weekday HVs compared with Mondays (Thursday IRR 0.824, 95% CI = 0.790 to 0.859). There were 6.2% fewer HVs in summer compared with winter (IRR 0.938, 95% CI = 0.902 to 0.975). Multivariable negative binomial regression showed non-significant relationships between meteorological variables and HVs, but a significant day-of-the-week relationship.
conclusionGP HVs increased on cold days and fell on sunnier days. The effect sizes were small so it is unlikely that there is any clinically significant effect of weather on HVs in this acute GP visit setting. A tentative conclusion might also be that GPs in this system can deliver care to frail housebound patients in most weather conditions.
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